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50 Years of Innovation and Creativity in Computer Graphics and Interactive Techniques Celebrated at SIGGRAPH 2023

An Overview of Milestones and Highlights of the Past 50 Years Were Showcased With Several History Installations and Retrospective Talks During the Conference

CHICAGO—SIGGRAPH 2023, the premier conference and exhibition on computer graphics and interactive techniques, marked its 50th year of breakthroughs and innovation with a week-long celebration in Los Angeles, from 6–10 August 2023. The industry has grown in the last 50 years, and SIGGRAPH marked this special occasion by celebrating the milestones and pioneers of yesterday, today, and tomorrow.

What originally started as an ACM SIGGRAPH History archive evolved into a remarkable project that had more than 225 people collaborating from around the world. The industry, from original pioneers and students to artists and technicians, came together sharing time, expertise, and ideas. The historical offerings ranged from Retrospective Talks and a walk through the early hardware developments to the amazing, interactive Time Tunnel, sponsored by Autodesk, that was created to feature the world’s most comprehensive timeline of computer graphics achievements over the past 50 years.

“SIGGRAPH is about people, and I believe the reason SIGGRAPH is successful as a community and conference is the diversity of the offerings and the convergence of cultures,” said Bonnie Mitchell, SIGGRAPH 2023 History Chair. “In order to fully represent and celebrate the past 50 years, I wanted to ensure the programs and displays reflected this. I love the generosity of and synergy between people in this community. When true collaboration occurs, it’s about giving, it’s about listening, and it’s about learning and changing, supporting each other, and making great things happen.”

The SIGGRAPH community focuses on computer graphics, which includes innovation and technological developments in the fields of animation, visualization, imaging, and art, among others. For example, digital art, an art form that uses digital technology as an essential part of its creative process, has evolved dramatically since the 1970s. Because of the innovations of pioneers in the SIGGRAPH community, artists are now able to use computer graphics to creatively express their ideas. In the 1970s, people used text to represent images (ASCII art) until computer graphics algorithms enabled artists to create art using computer programming. Today, artists express their ideas using digital painting, data visualization, digital photography, 3D rendering, and imaging tools because of developments that originated from the SIGGRAPH community.

Computer scientists, researchers, mathematicians, engineers, technologists, and artists in the SIGGRAPH community are interested in how computer-generated images inform, inspire, and shape the world we live in. From artificial intelligence and robotics to augmented reality and 3D rendering breakthroughs, the historical offerings at SIGGRAPH’s 50th conference celebration reflected a unique intersection of technological innovation and artistic thinking. The programs encouraged the attendees to reflect on the past and speculate what the future would be.

The historical and retrospective highlights included:

• The Time Tunnel, an approximately 130 feet long x 25 feet wide x 14 feet tall immersive, interactive space with floor and wall projections.
• Connections, where a robot used artificial intelligence and facial detection to match attendees to others in the SIGGRAPH community.
• Postcards From the Future, where artificial intelligence was asked to illustrate what the future will look like in 50 years. One of the postcards was illustrated by a human. Could attendees guess which one it was?
• Tea Time was an interactive exhibit that displayed historical SIGGRAPH content on a monitor, controlled via natural gestures with a teapot.
• The Historical SIGGRAPH Conference Posters 1979-2023 display visually depicted the aesthetic branding of the time and showed a progression in style over the years.
• SIGGRAPH Pioneers: Rare Gems From CGI History presented a reel of rarely seen videos from the early years of CGI, contributed by the SIGGRAPH Pioneers community.
• The First 3D Renderings illustrated, using original polaroid photographs, how the first 3D, shaded, colored, computer-generated, raster-scan images were produced.
• Retrospective Talks were hosted by the pioneers who developed technologies commonly used today as well as key volunteers who devoted years of their life to bring people together from around the world to share their knowledge of computer graphics.
• Cabinets of Computer Graphics Curiosities and Vulture Culture – A Visual History of SIGGRAPH Swag where artifacts from the past were on display showcasing how far we have come in 50 years.
• Blasts From the Past showcased historic emerging technology exhibits that changed the world.

The SIGGRAPH 50th celebration brought together innovators, researchers, and creators of digital art, visual effects, artificial intelligence, virtual reality, and much more. The contributions came from a variety of fields — including arts, science and electronics, academia and research, film, and television, among others. The work shown at the SIGGRAPH conference comes from diverse industries and government agencies, from medical, scientific visualization, artificial life, and robotics to games and animation in the entertainment field.

“SIGGRAPH looks forward to daring and bold ideas, research, and advancements coming from the community, but we also benefit from looking back at the contributions made by the community that got us to where we are today,” said Erik Brunvand, SIGGRAPH 2023 Conference Chair. “It’s young enough of a discipline that many of the pioneers are still able to celebrate with us. We have a rich history where our early innovators created incredibly creative concepts that are still making an impact today.”

Jim Foley, author, computer scientist, and computer graphics researcher from the Georgia Institute of Technology (retired), is an early SIGGRAPH pioneer. When asked about the conference, he said “I’ve been to all but one SIGGRAPH conference, and this, the 50th, will be my last. SIGGRAPH is my family, a tradition, and much of my professional identity. Words of advice … the only constant is change. Keep on learning, don’t be afraid to try new ideas and approaches. Be bold.”

SIGGRAPH contributors shared stories of research, papers, and books that they wrote that inspired others to make their start in computer graphics and related industries. Foley stated, “It is very satisfying to have someone at the conference come up to me and say, ‘It was your book that got me started in computer graphics!’ My motto is: ‘Your success is my success.’ I thrive on helping others succeed, and one way that has played out is via the books I co-authored.”

Mitchell added, “I wanted to honor and thank the original pioneers of the industry, and also give back to the community that gave so much to me. The contributions and generosity of the many people who took the time to help so that we could celebrate this significant year was a magical experience for me.”

For more information about the celebratory programming from the conference and other programs from SIGGRAPH 2023, visit the full program. The companion Virtual Access component will be available for on-demand viewing through 9 September 2023. Bookmark the ACM SIGGRAPH Blog for interviews and deep dives from different contributors.

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About ACM, ACM SIGGRAPH, and SIGGRAPH 2023

ACM, the Association for Computing Machinery, is the world’s largest educational and scientific computing society, uniting educators, researchers, and professionals to inspire dialogue, share resources, and address the field’s challenges. ACM SIGGRAPH is a special interest group within ACM that serves as an interdisciplinary community for members in research, technology, and applications in computer graphics and interactive techniques. The SIGGRAPH conference is the world’s leading annual interdisciplinary educational experience showcasing the latest in computer graphics and interactive techniques. SIGGRAPH 2023, the 50th annual conference hosted by ACM SIGGRAPH, will take place live 6–10 August at the Los Angeles Convention Center, along with a virtual access option.

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SIGGRAPH 2023 Conference Commemorates 50 Years of Innovations With Growth in Contributed Works and In-person Attendees

CHICAGO—SIGGRAPH 2023, the premier conference and exhibition on computer graphics and interactive techniques, marks its 50th year of breakthroughs and innovation. The conference provided a platform for innovators to share their exceptional contributions in digital art, technology, computer science, and other related content. An international audience of more than 14,275 attendees from 78 countries enjoyed the conference and its Mobile and Virtual Access component.

“One of SIGGRAPH’s most powerful strengths is that it’s a gathering of a wide variety of people in the computer graphics and interactive techniques community,” said Erik Brunvand, SIGGRAPH 2023 Conference Chair. “We’ve been a driving force for the expansion and growth in computer graphics for the last 50 years. SIGGRAPH is successful because it’s a place to appreciate and make connections across a variety of disciplines. From film and visual effects to academia and art to hardware and software, SIGGRAPH is a place for everyone. We have a unique community that has continued to grow over the last 50 years. And, as we celebrate 50 years, pioneers and the next generation of pioneers have a place to make their marks in the industry.”

Highlights from the conference included:

• SIGGRAPH 2023 Keynote Speakers: Dr. Darío Gil, IBM Senior Vice President and Director of Research, and Kathryn Kleiman, Founder of the ENIAC Programmers Project, Author, Lawyer, and Professor at American University Washington College of Law.
• The History Time Tunnel, sponsored by Autodesk, was an immersive and interactive experience that showcased the history of SIGGRAPH conferences and computer graphics.
• The Technical Papers program continues to be the premier venue for showcasing the most cutting-edge research results from computer graphics and interactive techniques.
• Papers Fast Forward allowed participants to get a glimpse of all the research papers from the Technical Papers and Art Papers programs.
• Installations from previous conferences, playable retro video games, and a display of all Pixar Renderman walking teapots were showcased in the Blasts From the Past exhibit.
• The Experience Hall is where the Art Gallery featured a Retrospective of Female Digital Art Pioneers, while Emerging Technologies and the Immersive Pavilion showcased the latest in technological innovations. With Labs, participants got hands-on experiences with new techniques.
• Real-Time Live! was livestreamed for the first time on Twitch, along with the in-person experience. The live audience and Twitch viewers were amazed by the latest technologies with interactive visuals in real time.
• As storytelling and the growth of virtual reality content expands, the VR Theater presented the latest in immersive narratives.
• The Electronic Theater presented animation excellence across 22 featured films.
• In Production Sessions, the teams from recent productions highlighted behind-the-scenes creativity, innovation, and collaboration.
• Mobile and Virtual Access showed strong engagement, with an average of 100 users per minute logging on to explore SIGGRAPH 2023 content.
• The top three most popular sessions interacted with on Mobile and Virtual Access included “Stylized Rendering Techniques,” “Practical Proceduralism in Production,” and “Neural Fields for Visual Computing.”

SIGGRAPH 2023 also celebrated this year’s contributors by honoring some “Best of” from various programs, including:

• Art Gallery
  Best in Show — “Reinventing the Spindle”
  Ebru Kurbak, University of Applied Arts Vienna
• Art Papers
  Best Art Paper — “Movement Quality Visualization for Wheelchair Dance”
  Yurui Xie, Giulia Barbareschi, Ayesha Nabila, Kai Kunze, Masa Inakage, Keio University Graduate School of Media Design
• Electronic Theater
  Best in Show — “La Diplomatie de L’éclipse”
  [qualifier for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences]
  César Luton, Ecole MoPA

   

  Jury’s Choice [tie] — “The Voice in the Hollow”
  Miguel Ortega, half MT studios

  Jury’s Choice [tie] — “Overwatch: Kiriko”
  Jeremiah Johnson and Dave Stephens, Blizzard Entertainment

  Best Student Project — “Swing to the Moon”
  Marie Bordessoule, Elisa Drique, Solenne Moreau, Adriana Bouissié, Vincent Levrero, Nadine de Boer, Chloé Lauzu, ESMA

  Audience Choice* — “Boom”
  Gabriel Augerai, Romain Augier, Laurie Pereira De Figueiredo, Charles Di Cicco, Yannick Jacquin, Miyu Distribution

• Emerging Technologies
  Best in Show — “Reprojection-free VR Passthrough”
  Grace Kuo, Eric Penner, Seth Moczydlowski, Alex Ching, Douglas Lanman, Nathan Matsuda, Reality Labs Research, Meta

   

  Audience Choice — “Retinal-resolution Varifocal VR”
  Yang Zhao, Dave Lindberg, Bruce Cleary, Olivier Mercier, Ryan McClelland, Eric Penner, Yu-Jen Lin, Julia Majors, Douglas Lanman, Reality Labs Research, Meta

• Immersive Pavilion
  Best in Show — “Actualities: Seamless Live Performance With the Physical and Virtual Audiences in Multiverse”
  Ke-Fan Lin, Yu-Chih Chou, Yu-Hsiang Weng, Yvone Tsai Chen, Zin-Yin Lim, Ping-Hsuan Han, National Taipei University of Technology; Chi-Po Lin, HcMusic Co., Ltd.; Tse-Yu Pan, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology
• Real-Time Live!
  Best in Show — “Interactive AI Material Generation and Editing in NVIDIA Omniverse”
  Hassan Abu Alhaija, James Lucas, Alexander Zook, Michael Babcock, David Tyner, Rajeev, Rao, Maria Shugrina, NVIDIA

   

  Audience Choice* — “Real-time Stage Modelling and Visual Effects for Live Performances”
  Taehyun Rhee, Andrew Chalmers, Faisal Zama, Anna Stangnes, Vic Roberts, Computational Media Innovation Centre, Victoria University of Wellington

• Technical Papers
  Best Paper Awards
  “Split-Lohmann Multifocal Displays”
  Yingsi Qin, Wei-Yu Chen, Matthew O’Toole, Aswin C. Sankaranarayanan, Carnegie Mellon University

   

  “Differentiable Stripe Patterns for Inverse Design of Structured Surfaces”
  Juan Sebastian Montes Maestre, Yinwei Du, Ronan Hinchet, Stelian Coros, Bernhard Thomaszewski, ETH Zürich

  “Globally Consistent Normal Orientation for Point Clouds by Regularizing the Winding-number Field”
  Rui Xu, Shandong University; Zhiyang Dou, The University of Hong Kong; Ningna Wang, The University of Texas at Dallas; Shiqing Xin, Shandong University; Shuangmin Chen, Qingdao University of Science and Technology; Mingyan Jiang, Shandong University; Xiaohu Guo, The University of Texas at Dallas; Wenping Wang, Texas A&M University; Changhe Tu, Shandong University

  “3D Gaussian Splatting for Real-time Radiance Field Rendering”
  Bernhard Kerbl, Inria, Université Côte d’Azur; Georgios Kopanas, Inria, Université Côte d’Azur; Thomas Leimkuehler, Max-Planck-Institut für Informatik; George Drettakis, Inria, Université Côte d’Azur

  “DOC: Differentiable Optimal Control for Retargeting Motions Onto Legged Robots”
  Ruben Grandia, Disney Research Imagineering; Farbod Farshidian, ETH Zürich; Espen Knoop, Disney Research Imagineering; Christian Schumacher, Disney Research Imagineering; Marco Hutter, ETH Zürich; Moritz Bächer, Disney Research Imagineering

  2023 saw the launch of the annual Test-of-Time Awards to papers that have had a significant and lasting impact on computer graphics and interactive techniques over at least a decade.

  Test-of-Time Awards
  “Functional Maps: A Flexible Represenation of Maps Between Shapes” (2012)
  Maks Ovsjanikov, Mirela Ben-Chen, Justin Solomon, Adrian Butscher, Leonidas Guibas

  “Eulerian Video Magnification for Revealing Subtle Changes in the World” (2012)
  Hao-Yu Wu, Michael Rubinstein, Eugene Shih, John Guttag, Frédo Durand, William Freeman

  “HDR-VDP-2: A Calibrated Visual Metric for Visibility and Quality Predictions in All Luminance Conditions” (2011)
  Rafal Mantiuk, Kil Joong Kim, Allan G. Rempel, Wolfgang Heidrich

  “Optimizing Locomotion Controllers Using Biologically-based Actuators and Objectives” (2012)
  Jack M. Wang, Samuel R. Hamner, Scott L. Delp, Vladlen Koltun

• VR Theater
  Best in Show — “Missing 10 Hours VR”
  Fanni Fazakas, RUMEXR, Victoria University of Wellington; Noemi Szakonyi, Mate Vincze, Match-Frame Productions

*Vote tallied on-site via survey poll.
Best in Show awards determined by a jury; Audience Choice awards determined by the live audience.

The innovation and creativity of the computer graphics and interactive techniques industry was on full display at SIGGRAPH 2023. The conference showcased why the legacy of the community has continued for 50 years, and the excitement is building for SIGGRAPH 2024 in Denver, Colorado, from 28 July–1 August 2024.

For more information about the conference and the various programs, visit the SIGGRAPH 2023 website. Select content from the companion Virtual Access component will be available on-demand through 9 September 2023. Bookmark the ACM SIGGRAPH Blog for interviews and deep dives from different contributors.

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About ACM, ACM SIGGRAPH, and SIGGRAPH 2023

ACM, the Association for Computing Machinery, is the world’s largest educational and scientific computing society, uniting educators, researchers, and professionals to inspire dialogue, share resources, and address the field’s challenges. ACM SIGGRAPH is a special interest group within ACM that serves as an interdisciplinary community for members in research, technology, and applications in computer graphics and interactive techniques. The SIGGRAPH conference is the world’s leading annual interdisciplinary educational experience showcasing the latest in computer graphics and interactive techniques. SIGGRAPH 2023, the 50th annual conference hosted by ACM SIGGRAPH, will take place live 6–10 August at the Los Angeles Convention Center, along with a virtual access option.

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